City on the Edge snafoo?

My wife and I watched City on the Edge of Forever again tonight for the umpteenth time and I caught an error by Harlan Ellison in his story.

Edith Keeler tells McCoy that he is in the year 1930 and she is on the way to a movie with Captain Kirk to see a "Clark Gable" movie. Since I own a run a site for fans of classic films this caught my attention. It so happens that Clark Gable was in many bit parts and most of them not credited but he was not a star in 1930. So Harlan got a little historical fact incorrect. He didn't have any real star billing until he was cast with Greta Garbo in Susan Lennox in late 1931. Oops!

Clark Gable, who was by no means a leading man in 1930, was not the original choice of reference. The final shooting draft of this script has Edith reference "a Richard Dix movie", but the crew on the set felt Dix's name wouldn't be familiar to viewers in the 1960s.

That error has been known for a very long time. Also, given how many times the script got rewritten by the Trek writing staff it's not fair to pin that on Ellison. There's certainly no such reference in Ellison's first draft, so far as I remember.

When I was little, my father explained the term as "...all fouled up." I hardly think he would lie. So it might be time to correct the historical record on that.

Also, I'm not at home to check, but I think the STAR TREK CONCORDANCE (1976) covered the thing about Clark Gable not being a star yet, but it said Edith may just have had a very sharp eye for upcoming talent.

When I was little, my father explained the term as "...all fouled up."

Click to expand...

That ain't the word they use in the army, son!

The Clark Gable reference isn't the only anachronism in "City on the Edge of Forever." There's the scene in which Kirk and Edith are walking together and the song "Goodnight Sweetheart" is heard playing on a radio in the window of a radio repair shop. That song was first recorded in 1931.

So obviously, the story transpires in 1931 and it is the Guardian who is miscalibrated! (I know, I know—Edith tells McCoy "1930.") Yet no one mentions the obvious paradox of the Enterprise and that entire history going missing.

So obviously, the story transpires in 1931 and it is the Guardian who is miscalibrated! (I know, I know—Edith tells McCoy "1930.") Yet no one mentions the obvious paradox of the Enterprise and that entire history going missing.

Click to expand...

With all the promiscuous, event-altering time travel that has taken place in the STAR TREK universe, it's a wonder that the "1930" which Kirk visited was even close to the real thing.

Edith's wall calendar is also out of date by several years. IIRC, David R George III covered this in his "Crucible" novel, explaining that Edith had deliberately stopped turning pages on it when her father passed away.

Thanks for the replies guys! I didn't know that oversight had been caught before. I used to own the Nitpickers guide and I imagine it was in there too. I was also wondering about Goodnight Sweetheart but didn't check it out.